For more than a decade, the Mueller family’s handmade, cedar strip canoe ferried them through waters rough and calm, equal parts cherished gift, family heirloom, and vehicle for adventure.

And so, when Kurt Mueller walked outside his south Edmonton house on Sunday morning and found the canoe’s blue straps discarded on the boulevard — and the racks where it had been sitting empty — it took him a moment to fully realize the beloved boat was really gone.

“I kept looking. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” he said.

The canoe was taken from the driveway of Mueller’s Allendale-area home, around 68th Avenue and 107th Street, sometime late Saturday or early Sunday.

It appears to have been more than just a crime of opportunity. The canoe had been chained and locked on top of the family’s Volkswagen van, so whoever took it was equipped to cut through the lock. Also, you don’t just portage down the street with a nearly five-metre-long canoe without attracting some attention, so it’s likely there was a vehicle waiting.

Mueller says he’s wondered if the boat was specifically targeted. But though people often stopped to compliment him on the beautiful boat, he says he has trouble believing another boater would do such a thing.

“I’m very confused,” he said. “I don’t know what to think. But I’m trying to be hopeful.”

The canoe was one of several boats built by Mueller’s father, a master cabinet maker, more than a decade ago. Fashioned from one-inch cedar strips, Mueller said it took about five months to make, and was the last boat his father made. His father is now in his 80s.

“It’s a very unique boat. It takes a lot of skill, a lot of hours to build something like this,” Mueller said. “It’s kind of a lost art, actually.”

Mueller said he hasn’t been able to bring himself to tell his parents it was stolen.

“A lot of people would say, ‘It’s just a canoe.’ But it was built my father,” Mueller said. “The hours he put into it, and the love he has for my family, it’s hard to describe. It’s not just a canoe. It means a lot.”

Mueller’s wife, Terry, describes the boat as a family treasure, representing “a lifetime of skill, love and memories.”

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Mueller’s canoe may call the Edmonton Police Service at 780-423-4567. Mueller said the canoe could also be dropped off back at his house, “no questions asked.”

“As long as I get my canoe back, that’s the most important thing for me and my family.”

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